Film and movie criticism, news and views at Sketchy Details
There’s a school of ghost/haunting films that I just don’t understand. You set up a creepy premise, then do nothing but repetitive jump scares for the next hour until everything is resolved in a big effects scene. Forget about character development. If the actors can’t sell you on having any personality beyond a perma-scream...
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There’s a whole lot of weird to unpack in this new story. To start, did you know Amazon has its own production company? It’s called Amazon Studios and it is essentially crowdsourced entertainment. Amazon has an open submissions policy for feature films and episodic TV scripts. You upload your writing to their server to...
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There is going to be a lot of horror content this month. I’m participating in the Summer Screams Challenge from Cinefessions. Hellevator: The Bottled Fools is a Japanese cyberpunk film. In the distant future, everyone lives in a departmentalized infrastructure with elevators as the only means of transportation. A female student, addicted to banned...
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Shakespeare is hard. There’s no two ways about it. Even onstage, you have to get everyone in the cast on board with the same interpretation or the play does not flow. The rhythm, cadence, accents, and style have to fit together or it’s a mess. When you bring the Bard’s work to the big...
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Cinefessions is running a fun horror movie challenge this month. Essentially, you watch as many horrors as you can and keep an updated list going on your own blog. Each feature is worth 1 pt and each hour of horror television is collectively worth a point. Bonuses abound. I’m throwing my hat in the...
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The good people over at Pajiba put together a collection of their favorite movie musical moments in honor of the amazing Les Miserables trailer. It’s a cool little collection that can’t possibly please everyone. For one thing, there’s no Oliver selection and no one but me sticking up for the show in the comments....
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The first rule of making a bad film is realizing that you made a bad film. The second rule of making a bad film is not blaming anyone else for making a bad film. Not every film is going to be a home run and no film will every please everyone. I mean, I...
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Full disclosure: I wrote about this already for my Director’s Live gig. I’m doing a more thorough look at this story here. I think it deserves more attention than a firm max of 100 words can allow. How would your view of animation change if you found out that it was the original projected...
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You don’t know how badly I want to love Drive. The crime/thriller from director Nicolas Winding Refn has to have some of the best editing, sound design, and structure of any action film I’ve seen in years. It’s uber-stylish and filled with a great cast. Yet, the cast has nothing to work with. They’re...
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The Apparition is a horror film with an all-star teen-friendly cast. There’s that girl from Twilight. Oh look, it’s the bad boy of Harry Potter. Cynicism aside, the casting is appropriate as the leads are all supposed to be grad students studying the science of paranormal activity. The trailer starts, “There is a scientific...
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